Couples are advised, if they want to make their marriage work, to space their togetherness “to let the winds of the heavens dance between them” … for after all, “the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
Many co-preneurs, a relatively new term used to refer to married couples who own a common business enterprise and manage it together, seem to be repudiating Kahlil Gibran‘s counsel with impunity.
They share the same bedroom and the same work space, are on each other’s faces and, uhm, nerves, 24/7. Are they putting their marriage at risk with such inordinate togetherness?
Being in business together means riding a roller coaster of ups and downs. And when the ride gets too bumpy, the romance may fly out of the window – temporarily, one hopes.
And what about the high risk involved in putting their eggs in one basket? Won’t the possibility of business failure be a sword constantly hanging over their heads and stressing them out?
How do couples in the same business handle the constant togetherness and the financial uncertainty?
Case stories from “Couples in business: dreamers, doers, risktakers,” published by the Small Enterprises Research and Development Foundation (SERDEF) and UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries (UP ISSI), give indication that husband-and-wife entrepreneurship – in the truest sense of sharing of time, resources, abilities, business pressures, and home responsibilities – can and does work!
As many of the cases show, the heart does not necessarily grow colder with close proximity.
Aida and Chito
Chito and Aida Madrono of 13 PM Enterprises, makers of Word Factory, Crosswords, and other board games of the Eureka brand, rhapsodize that being in business together is among the best things that have happened to their marriage. Aida points to the advantage of working with someone you trust wholeheartedly. “With trust and confidence, you’re working as one team,” she says, which Chito follows up with: “Can you imagine consigning your whole financial concern with someone you don’t trust?”
Both enjoy being in business. “You know you have a good thing going if you enjoy it together. What’s the business for if you and your partner are not happy?”